“Hey Siri! How’s the weather out there?”
“Okay Google! Can you please suggest a good restaurant?”
We use such sentences quite often and the demand for voice searches has increased. They have actually become a part of our lives.
According to Oberlo, over 33 percent of the United States’ population prefers voice search.
There are several reasons behind the rise of voice searches. Easy access to smartphones is one of them. Everyone has an assistant in their hands. Other than that, mobile phone is not just used for calls now. Mobile internet usage has increased immensely. Other than that, the increasing demand for devices like Amazon’s Echo and Google Home has made it a trend.
What Is Voice Search?
Let us first understand what is voice search. It is the act of giving a speech command or asking a question to devices capable of recognizing speech and converting them to text.
Such devices are our smartphones, Google Home, Amazon Echo and much more.
The technology behind voice searches
The device first recognizes the human voice. Then it transcribes it into text.
Then the device finds the keywords in the text.
Further, it connects with the search engines and finds the relevant information.
Once it finds the information, it translates the collected information into a digestible format.
What Do People Mostly Do With Voice Search?
Check weather
Play music
Get directions
Call someone
Search on the internet
How can you optimize your content for Voice Searches?
There ate several different ways through which you can optimize your website’s content for voice searches. Here’s what you need to know.
Work On Local SEO With Google My Business
Most of the people find nearby places with the help of Voice Searches. Many people use it while driving for navigation. Therefore, it is necessary that you optimize your local SEO.
For that, you must have Google My Business. More than 80% percent of the total searches over the internet happen on Google. So, a strong presence on Google is necessary.
Even if you have a small business, you must be listed on Google My Business. When it comes to navigation based searches, Google always shows the businesses listed on Google My Business first.
A Conversational Tone For your Content
If you want to optimize your content for voice searches, you must write your content in a conversational tone. Avoid complex sentences and write the words you often use while speaking.
Long-Tail Keywords are important
It is to be noted that voice searches are longer than text searches. The AI converts the text into speech. So, the text is what goes to the search engines.
Therefore, you must use long-tail keywords in your content. Remember that people do not use normal keywords while doing a voice search. They have a conversational tone. Instead of saying “Restaurants in New York”, they search for “Okay Google! Find the best restaurants for me in New York!”
FAQs can help you a lot
In a website, “FAQs” is the only section that is completely conversational. The owner answers the questions that are being asked by the users.
If we talk about Voice searches, these are generally questions that are asked to the search engine. A lot of voice searches are question-based. Therefore, you must have as many FAQs on your website as you can. Find question-based keywords if you want to optimize your content for voice searches.
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A mobile-friendly website is important
Most of the voice searches happen on mobile devices. So, it is a necessity to have a mobile-friendly website. For the overall betterment of SEO also, mobile-friendly website is necessary.
Easy to navigate, mobile responsive websites are essential, especially for local SEO.
Use Multimedia On Your Website
If you use rich media on your website, crawling robots will boost your website and it rank higher in the SERPs. Search engines are not only focusing on the content of the voice searches but also the context. Most of them are putting efforts to make their voice assistants understand what users are saying, how they are saying, and where they are.
Local searches are the best examples of it. If you search for a particular restaurant, the search engine will show you restaurants near you instead of all the restaurants in your country with the same name.
This happens because voice assistants understand your accent, and most importantly, know your location. You must add multiple videos, photos on your Google My Business Profile, your website with the right descriptions and alt tags. It makes it easy for search engines to verify the location and the information provided. They are not left in any grey shade as they get enough information.
Focus On Technical SEO
Technical SEO improves the overall ranking of your website. You can never ignore it if you want to grow higher in the SERPs. Focus on the backlinks of your website.
Try to acquire backlinks from websites having high domain ratings. Guest posting is one of the best methods to improve the number of backlinks to your website.
Other than that, focus on the load speed of your website. The users do not wait for more than five seconds and leave if the website does not open. Also, they expect results immediately when they conduct voice searches. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the load speed.